As Dawn Rises
by reflectivenight
Summary: Toothless manages to escape the arena after saving Hiccup from the Monstrous Nightmare, but what happens because of this changes Hiccup, Astrid, and Berk's futures drastically.
1. Chapter 1: Rejection

_Rejection_

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><p>Hiccup stared at the patterns on the cobblestone ground made apparent by the sun melting through the chains atop of the arena. He took a deep breath and looked up from his position against the wall. For weeks he had been through training and although he'd never hurt a single dragon, he had still been chosen to kill this one. He could hear the crowd cheering and yelling, their voices echoing off the walls around him, causing his body to cringe inward. If only he hadn't performed those tricks on the dragons, he thought, he could have let himself run from their approaches and hide behind a shield, yet he didn't. All Hiccup wanted was approval; approval from his peers, the village and most of all, his father. He had spent years being labelled as the 'screw up' of the village that wouldn't amount to anything due to his lack of physical ability and farfetched thinking. Now, because of the techniques he'd learnt with Toothless to 'control' the dragons, he had been pinned as a great warrior and his father thought the world of him. His son was finally coming to terms with who he was; a Viking.<p>

Stoick's voice broke the ramblings of the crowd, his booming voice carrying itself joyfully. Hiccup could hear it in his voice, he was completely ecstatic about the turnaround of his son. However, if Hiccup went through with his plan, the joy in his father's voice could turn sour and his emotions cold, but he had to try. He needed to help the village understand why the dragons were not a threat. If the vikings could see just what he had seen and realise that everything about them was the opposite of what they had accused them of being for generations, everything might change. For Hiccup had seen, he had come to _understand_ the dragons due to his connection with Toothless. If he could help everyone else see what he could, surely it would make a difference.

"Well, I can show my face in public again." Stoick had a smile plastered on his face from ear to ear. The crowd applauded and laughed at their Chief's remark. Hiccup felt himself let out a small squeaking noise and shrink further into the wall feeling weighed down by this burden. He really hoped his plan would work, because if it didn't the number of possible scenarios where he ended up the victim was infinite.

"If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from being, well… Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training… I would've tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad." Hiccup could hear the crowd laughed at Stoick's playful jest.

After a short chuckle, Stoick composed himself, "But here we are. And no one's more surprised… or more proud than I am. Today, my boy becomes a Viking. Today, he becomes one of us!"

The crowd roared in anticipation, chanting Hiccup's name, yet he was still able to hear the distinct footsteps approaching from behind him. Astrid was the one other person who knew about Toothless and about how much this situation was weighing on Hiccup. Even though she knew, she didn't understand and luckily for her, she wasn't directly involved in the situation. This was Hiccup's problem and he was going to fix it, but it did always help to have support.

Astrid ran her hand along the wall which Hiccup was leaning on, "Be careful with that dragon."

He pondered for a moment before replying, "It's not the dragon I'm worried about." Both of their eyes followed the path the Chief took to his seat, with a giant smile on his face and his chest pushed out, he looked just as any proud father would.

"What are you going to do?" Astrid asked, brushing her fringe to the side. She was worried about him of course; he was heading into a situation unprepared. Throughout the weeks he had been "training" there wasn't much of a crowd to please, but now that the entire village was here, neither of them had any idea about the reaction Hiccup would bring.

"Put an end to this. I have to try." Blank faced, Hiccup stared at the metal doors which would soon burst open with a dragon, a dragon which hewas told he had the privilege of killing. Astrid eyed off Hiccup dubiously.

"Astrid," Hiccup turned toward her, "If something goes wrong… just make sure they don't find Toothless." He wasn't just going to do this for his own benefit, he was doing it to protect his dragon; his friend.

"I will. Just promise me it won't go wrong." She said in a concerned voice, scrunching her eyebrows together. Astrid had been hostile toward Hiccup in the build up to this event as he had taken away the glory she'd aimed for her entire life. This was until he had convinced her to come with him on Toothless. It gave her a brand new perspective on life. On the back of the dragon, she was able to experience things she'd never dreamed of before. She touched the clouds, felt the cold night air keeping her short of breath so high above the sea and had seen Berk covered in torches, beautiful against the darkness. This didn't mean she wasn't still weary of the creatures, but seeing Toothless and Hiccup interact and seeing the relationship they had built made her question… what if all dragon's were the same as he was.

Hiccup opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Gobber, "It's time, Hiccup." He looked toward Gobber before sparing one last glance at Astrid; he was going to fix this.

"Knock him dead." Gobber moved into the area which cut off the arena to the outside and began shutting the gate.

Hiccup took a deep breath in and out before looking over his helmet and placing it on his head. With a concerned look on his face, his eyes scanned the crowd, looking toward his father first. He could hear the chanting of his name mix with the rushed thumping of his heart.

"Show 'em how it's done!" he heard Tuffnut call from behind him. The hollering and hooting only got louder the further he moved into the arena.

Slowly he moved toward the wooden rack placed in the centre which contained a variety of weapons and shields. Glancing over everything, Hiccup picked up a shied before selecting the dagger as his weapon of choice. Stoick, watching his every move with complete concentration, rubbed his thumb across his moustache.

"Hm," he commented to Gobber, "I would've gone for the hammer."

Hiccup lifted his shield to a higher part of his body. As he was unsure if what he was about to do would get him killed, this warranted him to have some kind protection, at least against the dragon. Hiccup turned toward the metal door and took a deep breath before sighing.

"I'm ready" he stated.

The door bolts began to raise and creak as everyone waited with bated breath for the dragon to come out. Hiccup tried to compose himself. This will work, he thought, if he stuck with what he knew he couldn't fail. If his techniques worked on each of the other dragons, it should work on this one too, hopefully. Hiccup's eyebrows pinched together as he tried to hold himself together, this would be the defining moment in his life so he had to make it count. The crowd was silent, waiting and watching.

A flash of sticky flames was seen as it burst out so suddenly and Hiccup could barely hear the collective sound of excitement come from the crowd as the dragon snarled; it was horrific. The Monstrous Nightmare quickly jumped to the right and ran around the arena walls, scaling the area. Hiccup was taken aback, his breathing became faster and all he could hear was his increasingly fast heart rate. Nothing else mattered but this moment. The dragon shot a blast of fire through the crowd, provoking them, only causing them to holler louder. The Nightmare ran quickly across the chained roof of the arena like a bat, losing its fiery exterior as it remembered there was no way out. Hiccup's eyes followed the creature as it ran, but then the dragon stopped and slowly, tilting its head upwards, made its first eye contact with Hiccup.

The glowing yellow eyes squinted as he hit the floor of the arena, tail sweeping from side to side. Hiccup took a slight step back, his eyes wide with the second thoughts he was having on the situation. The crowd gawked at the scene before them, giving Hiccup encouraging shouts as he gulped nervously. Hiccup noticed the dragon was slowly approaching him and so he began to lower his weapons. Firstly he sent the dagger clanging to the floor followed by the shield held in his left hand. Taking a small breath, he put both hands out to hover above the dragon's nose and slowly moved backward to let him know he meant no harm.

"What is he doing?" Stoick asked to no one in particular, his face full of confusion. This is when the crowd started to complain; they came to watch him kill a dragon, not this.

Astrid watched from the gates, holding the metal bars and waiting in anticipation. She didn't know exactly what Hiccup was trying to do but seeing the crowd's reactions did not help the situation. Hiccup meant well, but it could get him into some serious trouble.

The dragon snarled at Hiccup, "It's okay." He stated softly, "It's okay."

Even through Hiccup's efforts the dragon kept coming closer, snaring as it did. His eyes narrowed to slits and crept up to stare at Hiccup's helmet. Realising this, Hiccup carefully placed his hands on the helmet before sliding it off of his head. The dragon looked quizzically at Hiccup who could tell the dragon was confused about why he hadn't attacked it.

Quickly glancing at his father, Hiccup stated in an almost repulsive tone, "I'm not one of them."

He quickly threw his helmet to the side and it bounced upon impact. Hiccup's heart beat died down as he saw the realisation in the dragon's eyes, just in time to hear the collective gasps of disgust come from the village. The Monstrous Nightmares pupils began to expand as he spared a glance toward the viking, curious of his motives.

Stoick could feel himself becoming upset, outraged and devastated all at once. This boy, _his boy_, who he'd been informed of doing so well in the ring, taking down dragons, had just destroyed the happiness that thought had provided. Then the wave of concern rushed over him. Hiccup was in the arena, with a dragon, and he wasn't going to kill it.

"Stop the fight." Stoick said loud and firm, although whether he was speaking to Gobber or Hiccup, no one knew.

"No." Hiccup threw back quickly, "I need you all to see this."

Keeping steady and trying to keep an even breathing pattern, Hiccup let the dragon close to his hand to sniff. Out the corner of his eye he could see his father's hands tense on the chair he was sitting in, knuckles turning white as snow.

"They're not what we think they are." He spoke softly and reassuringly, "We don't have to kill them."

The villagers began muttering, either out of disgust or concern toward the boy. They didn't understand, nor did they want to understand what was happening before their eyes, this abomination. Everyone eventually turned to their Chief looking for answers. Concentration still fixated on Hiccup, Stoick hurriedly pushed himself out of his chair and grabbed a large hammer.

"I said stop the fight!" as he yelled the hammer came down, leaving a large dent in one of the metal bars in front of him. The noise it made echoed throughout the arena and by the time it reached Hiccup, it was too late.

Rearing in horror, Hiccup watched as the dragon's intelligent eyes turn from curiosity to fear. The dragon quickly opened his jaws and snapped at the boy, causing him to jolt back and run. The dragon built up the fire in its mouth before quickly aiming and projecting it straight for Hiccup. Even when running he could feel the heat burning his back which only made him push harder. Then the heat was gone and the dragon was running, chasing Hiccup to all corners of the arena. By dodging and weaving he was continuously missing the dragon's attacks, but knowing his lack of physical ability, he wouldn't be able to keep this up long. Panting, he spared a quick look back at the dragon; this had been a mistake.

Stoick acted a second after the dragon snapped, "Out of my way!" He pushed quickly through onlookers to the scene. After the build up to this event, Stoick had gone in a full circle. He was back to saving Hiccup, to saving his son from dragons; _again_.

Astrid pushed her head through the bars, "Hiccup!" she yelled, eyes full of concern. She flicked her head around and grabbed the closest axe she could.

She wedged the axe quickly underneath the arena gate, pushing it down with all her strength. Getting down on the ground, she slid herself underneath and into the arena to try to help the boy. Hiccup may have known a lot about calming dragons down, but she knew how to fight, and that is exactly what this situation was calling for. The Nightmare let out another huge gush of fire, barely missing Hiccup's head. He rushed towards the weapon rack in an attempt to arm himself. After taking a shield, the dragon instantly crushed the rack, causing Hiccup to drop it and cower away.

Stoick reached the first gate and threw it up before rushing down to the second. Hiccup was still running but Astrid could see he was beginning to tire. She quickly looked around and found a hammer lying near her and after kicking it up with her foot, spun and threw it at the dragon with grunt. It hit the dragon in the side of its huge head, exactly what she was aiming for. Although she threw it off-balance it quickly regained its stance and focused on its new enemy; her. Realising what she'd done had enraged the dragon even more; she spun on her heel and ran just as Hiccup had around the arena.

The Chief grunted as he pushed up the second gate, "This way!" he yelled, giving a large arm gesture as if it would pull the two young teens toward where he was standing.

Astrid flicked her head around and sprinted toward Stoick who pulled her behind him as soon as she was close enough. Both of their eyes were wide as they waited for Hiccup to reach them; Stoick stuck out his hand. Just as Hiccup was about to meet it, the Monstrous Nightmare shot a blast of fire toward the side of the gate, stopping Hiccup in his tracks. He turned quickly and ran into the centre of the arena again, darting his eyes behind him to see where the dragon was. By the time he saw, he had already been pushed to the ground. The dragon's claws caged Hiccup in like an animal and the dragons face came down towards his, almost in a mocking gesture. Finally, the viking was the one in the arena being caged, not the dragon. Over the chaos, the village people began to hear a familiar noise, one of which came from something they had never seen before. Gobber turned quickly to look behind him and to his astonishment; a black dragon bound hurriedly down the cliff stairs and shot a blast of fire into the arena.

Everyone was either looking around, into the cage or flattened on the ground from the force of the blast. The entire arena was filled with billowing black smoke and the orange glow of fire making impossible to see what was happening. The shock turned to fear quickly as they realised what was happening. Hiccup had been trapped underneath the Monstrous Nightmare and now he was most likely under attack of another dragon. He would surely be killed before anyone could act.

"Somebody get in there and help him!" a man yelled from the crowd. Citizens pressed themselves against the edge of the cage trying to get a better view of what was happening. No one was going to jump in before the smoke cleared, it could mean certain death, even for an experienced viking.

Hiccup saw Toothless burst in through the arenas caged top and as frightened as he was of the dragon pinning him down, his priorities shifted as soon as he saw the blast of fire. Toothless must have heard Hiccup or the dragon, maybe he merely sensed that his friend was in danger. It didn't matter now; Toothless was here, attacking a Monstrous Nightmare in a cage surrounded by vikings. The high hopes Hiccup held at the beginning of this event were now diminishing in front of his eyes. If the Night Fury saved him it would be great for Hiccup, but the question was what would the villagers do after they found out Toothless was there to protect him. He had no idea.

Wings flapped and roars were heard before suddenly the two dragons tumbled out of the smoke into view. Both of the dragons were savagely attacking each other using their claws to swipe and teeth to attempt a fatal bite on the other. This was when the crowd began to realise what the other dragon was. Of course, no one could be certain; they had never seen this dragon before. It was as black as the night sky and moved faster than anything anyone of them had ever seen.

Gobber looked down into the arena with a look of confusion and horror, "Night Fury."

Toothless batted at the other dragon's jaw, trying to push it away. This dragon was larger than the Night Fury but of course, the other dragon wasn't trying to protect his friend. He quickly hit the Nightmare into the wall with his back legs before rushing to protect Hiccup. The dragon roared with a vicious look in his eye and Toothless shot one back, eyes darting around to make sure he would not get past. Any advances the other dragon made Toothless would counter with a quick dart forward, swiping at the dragon's head each time. The crowd looked on in confusion as to why this unknown and dangerous dragon was protecting Hiccup from another dragon. Toothless let out a large roar in an attempt to scare the Nightmare off and it worked. The dragon slid itself back against the wall before running off along it. To the onlookers shock and horror, Hiccup got up from where he had been trapped on the ground and ran to Toothless, his mouth going dry.

"Alright Toothless, go, get out of here." He pushed the dragon's head but he didn't seem to budge. Hiccup knew he was trying to protect him but the villagers saw a Night Fury as a threat either way. The vikings then began to act, from all around them they leapt from their places into the arena, carrying their weapons and charging toward Toothless.

"Go, go!" Hiccup pushed into Toothless again begging him to leave. As the vikings kept advancing, Stoick decided to act. He grabbed the nearest axe he could before running into the arena.

"Stoick, no!" Astrid yelled from beside him, looking toward Hiccup.

"No Dad! Dad he won't hurt you!" Hiccup yelled at him from Toothless' side, trying to help him see reason before he used the axe. Still trying to make the dragon to move, Hiccup pushed harder on the side of his head.

Toothless decided enough was enough. He leapt away from Hiccup who protested as he did and began to hit away the vikings in a fit of anger so that he could reach the large man barreling toward him. Quickly he pounced onto the man and rolled him over until he pinned him to the ground.

"Toothless, stop!" Hiccup held his hand out as a new wave of fear washed over him.

Stoick tried to push the heavy dragons head to the ground but in mere seconds the dragon had its legs placed firmly on either side of his chest. He grunted and tried to roll out from under its strength but this didn't seem to work either. In a last attempt to get out from under the beast, Stoick's hands shot up to its legs, gripping them and pushing back hard. Stoick's expression hardly shifted as the beast began to charge up his fire.

Hiccup gasped, "No," but Toothless didn't stop. The gas which formed the plasma blast was being sucked into form. In a last attempt to stop him, Hiccup tried again, "No!" his yelling didn't sound as angry the dragon had thought it might, instead it was dragged out and sounded upset. Maybe this person beneath him was of some value to Hiccup, so Toothless decided to stop charging his blast.

He turned toward Hiccup with his pupils turning from slits to confused circles. Hiccup's face was full of concern for both Toothless and his father; he didn't know what to do so he blankly stared at the situation and watched it unfold. Stoick threw a punch to the dragon's face which caused it to roar so violently that all the vikings had to cover their ears. The pure projection of the noise caused the bars around the arena to hum loudly.

Hiccup was pained by the reaction and it caused tears to well in his eyes. Toothless knew he was still in danger and decided it was time for him to leave. He looked toward Hiccup who shook his head quickly and looked up before jumping from Stoick, narrowly avoiding the hammer swung in his heads direction. He made a sprint for the opening he saw ahead of him, the one the man had come from. The girl Hiccup had been with last night was standing there and he was certain she would not be one to harm him. He bounded past her with a grunt and quickly made his way back over to where he came from, avoiding as many weapons that came flying through the air at him as he could. He could hear the people yelling but he couldn't understand what they were saying, so he just kept running. If he made it to the water filled area where he and Hiccup always met then he would be safe, for now.

Hiccup watched as Toothless ran into the distance. He watched as most of the villagers pursued him with the weapons in toe, screaming statements like "_destroy the monster_" and "_cut out its heart_". Then he stood, face down, looking at the cobblestone ground now covered in embers and traces of blood. He really hadn't meant for this to happen.

Gobber quickly came down and helped Stoick up who was shaking his head and holding his helmet. The realisation of what had just happened kicked in and he instantly became enraged. His eyes flicked up to Hiccup who was staring at the ground before he advanced toward him and picked him up by the hem of his shirt. Hiccup gasped as Stoick lifted him and grabbed onto his giant hand, trying to steady himself. As he looked into his eyes, he couldn't see a father, only a Chief.

"What in Gods name just happened, Hiccup! That monster was protecting you, why? What have you been doing, what has been going on?" Stoick yelled at Hiccup even though they were inches away. Hiccup had to turn his head away for fear of having it ripped off. Stoick was wound up, angry and confused. He didn't know what to think anymore of what had just happened, or of his son.

Hiccup turned back, the fear clear in his green eyes, "I-I… I don't know what to tell you Dad, I'm so sorry. It wasn't meant to be like this."

"Then what was it meant to be like, Hiccup?" Stoick yelled back.

"G-gods," Hiccup stuttered, "I don't know, but Toothless wouldn't harm you, he didn't harm you! I told him to stop and he did. I thought for a second that I might be able to prove to you how harmless dragons are but-"

"But what!" Stoick's grip tightened on the small boys shirt, "You could have gotten us all killed. Do you understand that!" he spat the words out like venom, causing Hiccup to push away in fear.

"I was just trying to get you to understand." Hiccup spoke softly but this did not deter his father from becoming angrier.

Stoick released his grip on Hiccup and threw him to the ground, causing his arm to crack against the hard ground. He let out a sharp noise of pain and panted, looking back at his father who was now staring at the mess before him. Astrid watched everything happen from the gates and was going to stay out of the situation, but she had the information to back Hiccup up on this. As he was thrown to the ground, Astrid quickly acted and moved toward Stoick.

"I can prove that what Hiccup is saying is true. Yesterday I found them together in the woods and tried to run back and tell you but he stopped me. What he showed me was incredible. That dragon was tame and friendly and not once in that flight did it try to harm me." Astrid decided to leave out the beginning of the flight of course, that information would merely add fuel to the fire, "None of us can understand what Hiccup is able to because we haven't done anything but fight the dragons for generations. His way of thinking is incredible and because of it he has begun to understand more than we could have imagined. I know dragon's have killed our family and friends, I definitely still don't trust them, but isn't it time we try something different to what we have tried for years? It's not working anymore Stoick, I think you should try to understa-"

"Enough!" Stoick screamed, he turned around with such force in his arm it knocked Astrid clean off her feet and onto the ground by Hiccup.

Hiccup had watched the situation unfold in front of him and to the unlikely hood of the situation, Astrid had sided with him. The force Stoick used on Astrid was enough to have Hiccup's blood boil. Getting to his feet he opened his mouth to yell at his father.

"Don't do that, you've hurt her." Hiccup turned to watch Astrid sit up and realise her shoulder was pushed in the wrong direction and blood was dripping from the wound. Hiccup gasped and quickly knelt beside her, hands hovering, not knowing what to do. Stoick didn't seem to care however, his breathing was fast and his fists were clenched tightly shut.

Hiccup turned back to his father, "I was only trying to help you understand!"

"Understand?" Stoick said through his teeth, "Maybe it's time for you to understand how much of a disappointing coward of a son you have been your entire life. You are worth nothing to me any more. Siding with the beasts that have killed our people is the worst possible treason imaginable. The both of you are no longer welcome on Berk. You have until sunrise tomorrow to get off this island or so help me I will throw you into the ocean myself."

Hiccup stared wide-eyed into his fathers; it was not the response he had expected. He hurriedly blinked away the forming tears, trying to keep the look of anger on his face up for a moment longer.

Stoick turned from Hiccup and began walking out of the arena, "You're not a viking." He stated clearly. Turning back toward Hiccup one last time, he looked into those terrified green eyes, all he saw was a traitor.

"You're not my son."

With that response, Stoick left the arena, his eyes never daring to look back around. Gobber followed behind him slowly after sparing a look of sympathy to the two young vikings on the ground. As Stoick walked past, the remaining people began to follow him back toward the village, never looking back either. The mumbling slowly became faint as the crowd moved away and Hiccup was left with a hurt Astrid in the arena. What have I done, he thought. He looked around at the remaining people, hoping that someone would help them.

Hiccup stood up, "Please, anyone," his eyes shifted around quickly, "Help her!"

"She's badly injured, her bone is sticking out! Please! I don't know how to help her." Hiccup's pleas were met with disgusted and frightened looks, none of which seemed like they were there to help him.

Hiccup fell to the ground and turned back to Astrid who was barely awake. He tried as hard as he could to not hurt Astrid as he pulled her head into is lap. All the damage which had been done was because of him and nothing was going to change that. He could feel his face heat up and throat go dry as he tried to remember what had happened in that short amount of time. His eyes darted around, looking at the detailed destruction surrounding him. Clenching his eyes shut, he pushed his head into his hands. Hiccup didn't remember when he had began to cry, he only noticed once the sobs stopped and he squinted through a mess of tears. A small shadow was looming above him and the sun caused him to be able to see who it was on that bright day. He tried to focus on the blurry being above him, using his hand to block the extra light causing the lack of vision. His eyes came into focus, and when they did he was finally able to let out a relieved sigh.


	2. Chapter 2: Flight

_Flight_

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><p>The first thing Astrid could sense when she woke up was pain, a sharp stabbing sensation in her left shoulder. She couldn't remember exactly what had happened but she knew that it was bad. She had been telling Stoick about her experience, trying to protect Hiccup… and that's when everything had gone fuzzy, like she had some sort of concussion. Astrid had experienced a substantial amount of concussions throughout her life, mainly during her younger years and of course accidents did happen during raids, so she could deal with that. What she could not deal with was the pain in her shoulder. Nothing felt broken, just wrong, as if someone had pushed a blade into her shoulder. Other pain she had felt in her life could not even compare to what she was feeling now, but Astrid was strong and she would pull through just like every other time. One thing she did feel before opening her eyes was that her shoulder armour had been taken off. Astrid was one person who never liked to take her armour off unless it absolutely had to be, she liked the security it provided, both physically and mentally. She didn't like to be approached by people unless she knew them or they were coming to praise her on her fighting skill which is why she kept it on, to deter them from her. It was almost like a physical wall held on her shoulders. Astrid had always liked putting up walls.<p>

Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around the room; the first thing she noticed of course was that she was in a room, not at the arena. There was soft evening light coming through the windows causing her to squint through the pink and orange haze. She could feel a harsh breeze penetrating the gaps in the wood causing her to shiver. She let out a gasp of pain, gods her shoulder hurt.

Hiccup, who had been pacing back and forth in the small home turned at the noise. He had been waiting for Astrid to wake up for some time now. Before, whilst he had still been sitting in the arena, a small figure had approached him; this person had turned out to be Gothi, the village elder and healer. Hiccup was confused about why she would choose help them as they were labelled traitors now, but when he asked she merely shook her head and held out her hand. Through a significant amount of struggle Hiccup had managed to help Astrid onto his back whilst Gothi minded her shoulder. Painfully slowly they made their way back into the silent village; everyone was out hunting Toothless. Hiccup felt his stomach drop but there was nothing he could do then, his first priority was helping Astrid. The hardest part of the journey was making their way up to Gothi's house atop of the tall rocky peak. Whilst steadily making his way up and being careful of Astrid's shoulder he cussed in his mind about why her home had to be on top of one of the steepest mountains on Berk. Upon reaching the peak, Gothi quickly rushed inside to flatten her bed and make room for the girl. Hiccup hauled her onto the bed, at least she had been unconscious the entire trip he thought to himself.

Gothic quickly grabbed roots and herbs, things that Hiccup knew nothing about. She thumped her staff against a wall and began to prepare some sort of healing medicine in a bowl. From what Hiccup could see and smell it was a disgusting brown paste, but Gothi was a healer and she knew what she was doing. After crushing everything together she added a vile of blue liquid from the table before swirling it together. Then she looked up and waved her hand around in front of her, eyes darting everywhere. She sighed and turned on her heel, hobbling back over to rummage through one of her many boxes. Hiccup made sure she wasn't going to turn around before moving to lean over the bowl. The blue liquid was seeping into the brown sludge and had started to form a green colour. Curiously, Hiccup decided to take one of his fingers and see what would happen if he pushed it into the bowl. Before he could, he was slapped over the back of his head by Gothi. He turned in time to catch her rolling her eyes but the scowl was still clear on her face. She stared him directly in the eyes before pointing with her bony finger to the medicine, then at Hiccup's face before wiggling her finger, as if to say "Do not touch." The Elder grabbed Hiccup's arm and pushed him toward Astrid before pointing at her shoulder armour.

"Do you want me to remove it?" he asked. She nodded slowly. Hiccup carefully removed the armour whilst minding the white sticking out of her arm. He cringed at the sight. Bruising had already started to form around the area in purple and green coloured blobs; it looked extremely painful.

Gothi then picked up the bowl and walked over to Astrid's shoulder, scooping out the medicine with what looked like a flat paint brush. Slowly she spread the remedy all over the wound, it wasn't very large but of course Gothi had to make sure it wasn't going to become infected, the bone had gone through the skin after all. After applying the medicine she pointed Hiccup to some wrappings across the room and as he passed them to her she tightly wound them around Astrid's shoulder and part of her arm. Once finished she slipped the end underneath a part of the wrappings and stood back. Astrid was still unconscious yet she still looked pained; a drop of sweat began dripping from underneath her headband.

"So what now, we wait?" Hiccup questioned.

The Elder turned to Hiccup and stared before picking up her staff and slowly nodding. Hiccup watched as she shuffled toward the doorway of her home and stepped outside, he didn't know why she did, but he let her leave. He turned back to Astrid who looked helpless spread out on the bed; this was his fault it had happened. If he had just left the night before and let Astrid run back to the village then none of this would have happened; yet he didn't. He had to stop her. Hiccup didn't know which he found more important to him; escaping the island he had grown up on to protect his best friend or being able to change someone's mind about dragons, and letting them see the possibilities and beautiful nature of the creatures. He didn't want anyone to believe he was a traitor or that he was trying to hurt people, so he had gone with the latter and taken Astrid on the flight.

Hiccup began pacing around the room, he was worried about Toothless. Of course the dragon was able to fend for himself but that wasn't the part he was worried about. The dragon had to still be on the island, he couldn't fly without him, which meant that the percentage of the villagers finding him was high. From what he remembered no one knew about the cove before he did, but the likelihood of them happening to go past there was very high. Since it was the spot Toothless would have remembered Hiccup assumed he would have run straight back to it, at least, that's what he was hoping. If the dragon hid in the cove surely no one would find him, and Hiccup would be able to go and fetch him when the time was right. There was no question about how he was going to leave Berk.

For the next few hours Hiccup had paced up and down beside where Astrid lay, waiting for her to wake up. He had made a list of all the supplies he needed for Astrid, Toothless and himself. Hiccup assumed Astrid would be coming with him, what else was she meant to do? She had been labelled a traitor as well and in her current state he didn't think taking one of the boats alone would be the best idea for her. It was also Hiccup's fault; the entire situation was his fault, so he owed it to her to help her.

From what Hiccup could see, the sun had started to set outside. This was at least helpful for him because he was planning on leaving with Toothless during the cover of darkness. However, he knew with night approaching that he would have to rush to get the supplies he needed; the vikings had to come back at some point and he assumed it would be as dusk broke. But Hiccup wouldn't leave until Astrid woke up, he didn't want to leave her until he made sure she was okay. This was why he was so thankful when he heard her noise of pain, not because he wanted her to be in pain, but because she was awake and he could get to work.

He quickly turned and moved outside to see Gothi standing at the edge of the houses platform, looking out to see. Slowly he walked up behind her and coughed softly. She turned and looked into his eyes.

"She's awake, what do we do now?" Hiccup asked. He flicked his eyes up and looked around. There was a heavily coloured pink and orange tinge to the sky which meant he was going to have to work fast if he wanted to get everything he needed. Looking down, he could not spot any vikings returning to the village; however he didn't know how long that would last.

Gothi hobbled back into her house and made her way to Astrid to undo the wrappings from before. Astrid winced in pain as this was done, turning her head to see what had actually happened to her. Once the wrappings were removed, Gothi dipped a cloth in a barrel of water before wiping off the excess medicine from Astrid's arm. Astrid turned her head away and closed her eyes in pain. The Elder threw the cloth toward her table before leading Hiccup behind Astrid and placing his hands to cup her arm pit.

"Is this going to fix her arm?" Hiccup asked, glancing between Astrid and Gothi.

Gothi nodded before holding Astrid's wrist in a tight grip and pulling down to slot her bone back into place. Astrid yelped in pain and threw her good arm against the bed. Her entire face scrunched up at the feeling of her bones being moved back into place. A click was heard and Gothi stopped pulling, the bone disappearing from their view. Astrid began panting and turned to look at her arm which began spurting out a fresh lot of crimson red blood. Gothi quickly covered it with a new cloth before placing Hiccup's hands over it to keep pressure.

Hiccup looked up into Astrid's eyes, "Are you okay?" he asked. Astrid's head was pounding from the pain she'd endured but slowly she gave him a nod. He replied with a small smile.

Gothi returned quickly with a needle and thread, fanning Hiccup away with her hands as she hurriedly got to work. Astrid grinded her teeth together as she felt the needle pull in and out down her wound and back up again. The Elder then tied off the thread and cut it before covering the stitches with a small amount of the leftover medicine. She then took a fresh wrapping and wound it around her arm in the same pattern as before. By doing this it would hold her shoulder in place for the time it would take for the wounds to fully heal.

"How long will it take to heal?" Hiccup asked, finally taking his gaze from Astrid's pale face.

Gothi gave an indecisive shrug before holding up one finger, then two, then three. Hiccup stared at the fingers before snapping his eyes to meet hers, "Weeks?" he asked hopefully.

She shook her head and Hiccup realised this injury was far more severe than he had thought. "Are you saying it will be healed anywhere between one to three _months_?" Gothi sighed and gave him a swift nod before moving to collect what she had used on Astrid. Hiccup was taken aback for a moment, if it was going to take that long for her to heal, his plan of leaving with Astrid on Toothless would not do anything to help speed up the process. But, like always, there was no other choice. Hiccup let out an exhausted sigh, this day had probably turned out to be the longest he had ever lived.

Hiccup knelt next to Astrid who slowly opened her eyes, eyelashes clumped together due to the grit and sweat running off her face, "I'm going to get some supplies and find Toothless. I'll be back soon for you, I promise."

He gave her a small smile which Astrid did not return, most likely because she was completely exhausted by the experiences she had today. Hiccup turned away from the bed and walked toward the door. With his hand on the wood, he turned and faced Gothi who was arranging the scattered vials she had hit whilst preparing the medicine.

"Thank you, for everything." Hiccup stated softly. The older woman turned to him, her eyes full of sympathy. She gave him a small smile before turning back to the vials as he walked out the door.

* * *

><p>Hiccup tried to be as stealthy as he could whilst making his way through the quiet village by ducking behind objects and moving along buildings where it was possible. It took a short while for him to reach his home – more accurately, previous home – and immediately he set to work by gathering supplies. Most of his things were already packed from the past night when he had planned to leave on Toothless anyway, but of course there was always something new that popped into Hiccup's mind at the last second. As he was removing a second spare tunic from his bag to make some room for Astrid's things, he heard a creak come from the bottom of the stairs. He startled and whipped his head around, staring out of the darkening room. He sucked in a deep breath; Hiccup could feel his heart threatening to burst from his chest. The creak sounded again, but it was a low groaning sound this time, as if the planks of wood were leaning together just for the fun of making him scared. Hiccup waited with bated breath for someone to appear up the barely lit staircase. Blood pumped through his straining ears, listening, waiting. He used his hands to steadily make his way over to the door way and peaked around the corner. He was met with a dimly lit room and no one in sight. He sighed from relief knowing that his nerves were getting the better of him. Although no one was there at the moment, it didn't mean the vikings would not be back soon. He hurriedly closed his bag and ran down the wooden stairs; the sound of his boots hitting them echoed through the empty house. His hand reached for the door handle before he stopped and turned around. This was probably going to be the last time he ever saw his house and this would be the only thing his father would see for the rest of his life. Hiccup felt a slight pang of guilt in his gut before he shook his head, clenched his jaw and ran from the house, never turning back.<p>

Before heading to Astrid's house he moved down to the forge to gather some of his things. He snuck through the open doorway and headed straight to the back room he had claimed as his own. Moving aside the curtain he had hung for privacy he headed straight for what he needed most; his art book. Leather bound and littered with sketches of everything, mainly Toothless, it was one thing he wasn't preparing to leave without. He poured his life into those sketches and never knew what he might come across in the process of their travels. He tucked it tightly between his tunic and the side of his bag before reaching for other things he may need. As he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something of importance to bring; the design for Toothless' tail. He folded the large piece of rough paper before placing it next to the book. It would come in handy if something were to happen to the tail, or if he felt the need to improve it. Though, he didn't know how we would be able to since he was leaving the only place where using a forge and materials came free. Hiccup quickly shook his head before turning back to the curtain. He peaked around it and into the village. Once he was satisfied no one had returned, he ran.

He made it to Astrid's house without feeling the need to hide himself from the village; he was in too much of a hurry. He rapidly climbed the stairs and pushed on her front door. It was locked. Panting in frustration he raked his fingers through his gritty hair, pulling a disgusted face at the feel. He looked around him to find some form of a key or a rod he could break open the door with, but to his disappointment, there was nothing. He stood in thought for a moment and that's when he realised. There was a window.

Hiccup rushed to jump from the front of the house, his ankles aching with the impact on the hard ground; but he pushed past the pain. Stars were faintly appearing in the sky, proving that he had no time to waste. He reached the back of the house and a large sigh produced from his core. The window was open.

He looked around the darkening area trying to find something he could use to get himself up there. Conveniently a few houses down, a ladder was laying on the ground. He hoisted the ladder against the house with a loud bang. He immediately cringed. If anyone had heard the noise, they had chosen to ignore it. He slid his body through the window, thanking Thor that he was skinny enough to do so before getting to work. He hasn't asked Astrid what she needed, instead he assumed. He opened her draw and grabbed one of each spare garment. A shirt, leggings, a skirt; and then he stopped. He felt his cheeks flush with red as he picked up one spare binding and pair of underwear out of her draw and pushed them into the bag. Embarrassed by what he had seen, he turned back to the window to find the sky was turning from pink to a light grey. He moved to leave but as he passed her bed, something caught his eye. From under her pillow stuck a leather-bound book. Hiccup knew Astrid wasn't one for reading so his curiosity got the better of him. He snuck over to the bed and slipped the book out from its place. After turning it once over in his hands he realised, it must be a journal. He bit down hard into his bottom lip, not knowing whether to take it or leave it. He didn't want to expose her privacy by leaving it here for her parents to find, but then again, he wasn't too fond of the potential hit she would give him by invading her privacy like this.

He heard creaking before the front door to the Hofferson household swung open; he froze. They were back.

Hiccup couldn't think, only feel in that short window of time he had to escape. He left the room twice as quickly as he had entered, skipping steps on the ladder before falling hard onto the grass below. He didn't bother to put the object back in its place; he had to get out of there. Already out of breath from fear, Hiccup tried his best to sprint toward the forest line, hoping no one was around to see him. He could hear faint voices coming from behind him, not knowing who they were directed at. Upon reaching the edge he knew he would be concealed in darkness, so he allowed himself to turn around. He watched as vikings returned to their homes, weapons in tow, yelling at each other and pointing commands. Some were returning to their homes only to run out seconds later with larger, menacing devices. It gave him some form of odd hope that they hadn't found Toothless. As he turned his back on the village, he still felt the need to run. So he did.

* * *

><p>Hiccup reached The Cove spluttering and panting, completely out of breath. The sounds of vikings had faded as soon as they were out of sight but it didn't stop his pace. He was determined to reach his friend before they had time to regroup. He reached the ledge leading into the small area. It was dark now, too dark for him to see anything properly anyway. He squinted, using the faint moonlight covered in clouds to decipher where everything was. There was a faint glimmer of reflection coming from the smooth lake and dark blobs signifying boulders, but other than that Hiccup couldn't see a thing. Slowly he made his way down the rock face, using his arms to hold himself steady. His bag hadn't helped while he was running, weighing him down on his left side. Now it was pulling him, like an anchor hanging from his back. Hiccup landed in the cove with a hefty thud.<p>

His eyes darted around as he walked further into the open area, "Toothless." he called, voice barely audible.

He had half expected the dragon to leap from one of the overhanging trees. Looking over head he saw the wind jostle at the leaves, moving them in graceful motions. But still, there was no Night Fury in sight. Hiccup sighed, though now it came out frantically. He spun around and began to move in all directions, checking behind rocks, around tree stumps and into cracks. His friend wasn't anywhere to be found. Maybe he hasn't come back to the cove, he thought, maybe he had run to another part of the island. Not that the island was extremely large, but in the dense forest it would prove very difficult to find a black dragon. Hiccup didn't know what to do now, if he couldn't find Toothless then their only mean of escape was by boat. He sighed deeply.

Then he heard a warble, very faint, but it was real. His head turned to a darkened corner of the cove which he hadn't noticed before. He started stepping toward the area when it let out a groan.

"Toothless," he called out to him, crouching slightly as he did, "I-It's me bud, I'm here."

Another soft warble sounded from the shadows before a large pair of green eyes appeared. Toothless slowly padded his way over to Hiccup, his ears flat and tail between his legs. If he was to pin an emotion to his actions, he would say Toothless looked ashamed. As the dragon came closer he bowed his head and closed his eyes, waiting for Hiccup's reaction. He took some steadying breaths before reaching out with one hand to touch his nose.

"It's okay bud, it's not your fault."

Toothless made a saddening noise in response, dropping his head further to the ground.

"You saved me. I could have been in a lot worse state if you didn't appear when you did. I know you were trying to protect me but they… don't understand. They don't know what you mean to me, bud. They thought you might have been trying to hurt me which is why they attacked." Hiccup slowly rubbed his hand up and down Toothless' snout, staring at his closed eyelids.

"I only yelled for you to stop because that was my father. I didn't want you to hurt him or to see you get hurt. I'm sorry bud, we should have left last night like I said we would." His eyes searched the ground as he spoke, looking for something, anything, to take his mind off what had happened that day.

After a short silence, he looked back at Toothless who had finally cracked open his eyes to stare up at the boy. Hiccup was met with largely dilated pupils.

"When you left I tried to explain to him but he wasn't listening. Then Astrid came in and well… she got hurt." Toothless bowed his head further and let out a concerned warble which rumbled through Hiccup's hand. "She's fine now, but we were told we were traitors, which means we have to leave." Hiccup sighed.

"Now."

Toothless understood immediately and began rising up again but the ashamed look never left his eyes. Hiccup ran his hand along the side of the dragon before clumsily lifting himself into the saddle.

"We've got to go get her from Gothi. Her home is on top of the mountain next to the village."

Toothless crouched down and his wings expanded and he settled down in the same movement, pressing down on the dragon's body. They took off at a dangerous speed, freezing wind immediately penetrating Hiccup's senses but he didn't care. He had to get back to Astrid. They had to leave the island.

* * *

><p>Toothless landed on the edge of Gothi's home and the first thing Hiccup heard when he landed was Astrid's angry voice. "Typical." He scoffed under his breath, a small smile breaking upon his face for a moment, but only a moment.<p>

He hopped off Toothless and motioned for him to stay as he made his way into the house. Astrid was sitting upright in the bed with a scowl on her face, her eyebrows pulled tightly together. Her eyes flicked to where Hiccup was standing and she let her expression loosen a bit, but the anger was still there.

"How are you feeling?" Hiccup asked, knowing that conversation probably wasn't the best idea at the moment.

"I'm feeling fine." She snapped. "Gothi won't give me my armour to wear though.

Hiccup turned to Gothi who gave a large sigh before looking over to him in annoyance. His eyes glazed over the room, his hands awkwardly tapping on his thigh. Eventually Astrid sighed and blew a clump of hair from in front of her eyes and swiped it to the side with her good arm. When Hiccup turned his attention back to Gothi she had turned her back on the two of them, fiddling with something he couldn't see. Sighing, he moved to Astrid's side and sat carefully on the bed.

He looked at her with pleading eyes, "It's going to take a while for your shoulder to heal. Putting your armour back on probably isn't a good idea, it could hurt it more."

Astrid glared at Hiccup through tight eyes, "I don't care if it hurts me, I want my armour back."

Gothi quickly turned and threw the armour into the fuming girls lap. Astrid looked between the armour and Gothi before relaxing her shoulders. Hiccup hadn't even realised until that point that she had been tensing. Astrid then took the armour with her good arms hand before lifting her feet off the bed and standing up straight to crack her back. He turned to the Elder and gave her a sympathetic look which she returned with a wave of her hand. It was time for them to leave.

Before Hiccup got to his feet, Astrid had shoved the armour into Hiccup's arms and was already on her way out the door. She stopped short when she saw Toothless perched in front of her, but it only stifled her for a moment before she began descending the steps.

"Wai- where are you going?" Hiccup called after her with a confused look, hooking the armour on Toothless' saddle as he rushed past.

Either she hadn't heard him or wanted to ignore him because she kept walking. Huffing through his nose, Hiccup followed the girl down the stairs and reached for her good shoulder. "Astrid, where are you going?" he asked again.

The girl quickly grasped his hand and turned it over as she faced him, "I'm going to find my parents."

Hiccup winced in the pain that came with the twist in his hand. This was the second time she had performed this on him; it seemed to hurt more the second time.

"Astrid," he gasped. "You can't! We have to leave, right… now." It began to feel like she was trying to break his fingers off and Hiccup had to bite his lips together to stop himself from whimpering. For someone so small, she was a very powerful girl.

Astrid let go of his hand and Hiccup rejoiced in his head at the relief. "Why do we have to leave?" she asked curiously, however he didn't miss the hint of anger in her tone.

"Don't you remember? My father labelled us as traitors, Astrid. He said we had till sunrise to leave the island so we might as well leave now. Toothless is ready to go, it's easier than a boat, and faster. I already brought some of your things from your room so we wouldn't have to go there and get caught. Please, Astrid. They will be looking everywhere for us and knowing that you were hurt, this is most likely the next place they will look. We have to leave, now. Please." Hiccup gave her a pleading look but her eyes darted to the ground, remembering what had happened. She had defended Hiccup, she was pushed, and then… but now she was here.

She knew she was still delirious from the injury to her arm; it really had knocked the strength out her. Looking back up to Hiccup she could see the panic and fear in his eyes, though she didn't know what for. It could have been a fear over whether they would get caught, or Toothless getting hurt, or her. She shook the last thought away from her mind and stared at Hiccup with an annoyed expression. She let her good arms hand move up to brush against the dull throbbing pain in her shoulder. Wincing as she touched it she began to realise, she was no longer welcome on Berk, and she had the injury to prove it. Even if she did find her parents, what was to say they wouldn't turn on her just like the countless other villagers did, just like the Chief did. If they turned on her it would crush her. All her life she had aimed to be what they expected of her, a warrior. Astrid felt that she had accomplished that somewhat, but to her parents it was never enough. They were always commenting on ways she could have improved on something she'd done. On one occasion in fact, she had been caught between two houses as dragons closed in on either side and only escaped with a small burn from a Deadly Nadder. As she retold the story to her parents they looked uninterested and went on eating their food. She'd asked them what they had thought of her bravery, of her skill; they merely stated that if they had been in that situation, they would have gotten away without a scar.

Astrid snapped her eyes back to Hiccup and eyed him over. He was breathing heavily, eyes glancing between her and the curious dragon behind him. There was no point sticking around to be executed, she had no other choice. Her eyes moved down to the hand Hiccup held out in front of her, an offering. She thought back to the day before, when he had done the same thing. Except he had been on the back of what she thought to be a highly dangerous dragon and she was hanging at least two-hundred metres above Midgard. She had been angry at Hiccup then, so she slapped his hand away. But this moment wasn't like the day before; she trusted the boy and the dragon now. So she decided to take his hand.

Hiccup's face relaxed slightly and he gave Astrid a faint smile before pulling her toward Toothless. The dragon happily lowered his body for the two to easily get on. Hiccup quickly snapped the tail fin into place.

"Are you ready?" he asked Astrid who began to curl her arms around the boy's waist.

"I don't have a choice." she replied softly, pushing her cheek between his lean shoulder blades, bracing for the take off.

Hiccup pushed his lips together to form a flat line. He was being forced to leave his home and stupidly enough he had managed to drag Astrid into the mess with him. He took a long deep breath before pushing the air out harshly through his nose. Hiccup stroked along the top of Toothless' head and gave him a slight scratch which the dragon responded to in delight.

"We're ready." He stated plainly, before leaning with the dragons crouch and shooting into the air.

Neither of them heard the rattling of the boards Toothless took off from as their ears were filled with the rush of icy air. Hiccup urged the dragon to fly higher into the clouds, determined to take them far enough up from Berk to be out of shooting range. Hiccup knew that if they saw the dragon they would attack, no questions asked. He watched as the soft torch lights faded to a small glow and the clouds began engulfing them. When he was satisfied with how high they had gone, he clicked the prosthetic tail into a different position and as Toothless moved his, they levelled out. Staring up he could see the now prominent stars glittering in the dark sheet of black above him. He marvelled at the beauty of them. Even in the darkness of their banishment he was still able to find something which could make him smile. Hiccup had always wondered about the stars, about what they were and why they were there. His curiosity got the better of him sometimes, and now that he thought about it, his curiosity was what lead them to the situation they were in. His eyebrows creased as he thought about what could have been done differently and how it would change what had happened. There was a possibility that he could have tamed the Nightmare, but his father obviously didn't let that happen. He could have escaped with Toothless the day before, but his decision to take Astrid on a flight with the Night Fury had seemed right at the time. So many variables lead up to where he was now, but maybe it was all for the best. Maybe the Gods were looking down on him and they had pointed him in this direction for a reason. He was of course upset; there was nowhere to go really. Hiccup had spent his entire life on Berk always wondering about what was out there but never leaving. Now that he had the opportunity at his finger tips, he couldn't help but step back and stare at what was in front of him. Hiccup snapped out of the trance he had slipped into and looked at the soft sheet of white stretching slightly below them as far as the eye could see. He couldn't help but feel nervousness stab at his curiosity. In reality he was heading toward the unknown and he didn't know what to expect. A deep rumble came from the dragon beneath him, shaking his body in a comforting way.

"I'm okay bud, just exhausted." he lazily began to stroke along the side of Toothless' head before tilting his head back to look at the stars again. The white lights shone back at him and Hiccup felt that if he reached his hand high enough, he may just be able to touch them.

Astrid stirred slightly behind him which reminded Hiccup that she was actually there. "Are you okay, Astrid?"

He felt her shift slightly against his back and turn her head over so the other cheek rested against his back. She released a deep sigh which vibrated through Hiccup, causing him to frown.

"I'm fine." she stated, "This is all just a bit overwhelming, I guess."

He moved his eyes slightly down to catch her picking at her fingernails. He had noticed her doing that sometimes, when he sat afar from her in the Great Hall. When no one was around or if she didn't seem to be interested in the conversation, she would pick her nails. It seemed that no one else had noticed it besides him; of course he didn't expect them to. Having blood and grime under their nails was common for vikings. But that blood usually came from an animal or a wound elsewhere on their bodies; Astrid picked under her nails hard enough for them to bleed. Hiccup turned his focus back to where they were flying. The clouds beneath them had begun thinning out, turning to wisps of vapour caught in the air. Toothless ducked slightly and the wet cloud helped cool Hiccup's thoughts as it ran slowly and softly across his face. Then he felt something on his back, but it wasn't the cloud. Knowing she would hit him if he said anything, Hiccup pretended to ignore the warm tears penetrating his tunic and the soft sobs echoing from Astrid's core. That was the first time in his life where he'd experienced Astrid crying.

He prayed she would never have to again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello readers!  
>Oh my god, 9 reviews? The favourites and follows? You guys are <strong><em>amazing<em>**, thank you so much for the feed back!  
>If there are any mistakes in this chapter I am so sorry. I had writing block so I went and read something and it got me right back into the rhythm but I rushed this so I could post it tonight.<br>Any further chapters I write will probably be posted every one to two weeks. This is a casual thing.  
>Seriously though, thank you all so much. You are lovely.<p>

_RN_


	3. Chapter 3: Attack

_Attack  
><em>

* * *

><p>As the faint morning glow began to replace the brightly shining moon, Stoick was awoken from his slumber on the couch in his quiet home. Gobber stood over him, panting quite heavily. With hands on his hips he began to blurt out gibberish, pointing a faint finger toward the door before leaning down and taking a solid breath.<p>

"Easy now, Gobber."

Stoick stood up from his position, cracking his back as he went. The day before had taken its toll on him. He had lost his heir to the throne, his only son, along with the loyalty of some of his people. For some reason, they had twisted the idea of Hiccup fraternizing with the beasts to involve Stoick. They spoke of how he must have told his son to do this for unknown gains and that as soon as he was found out, Stoick told him to leave for fear of a rebellion once they knew of his actions. This was completely untrue of course. He had no idea of what Hiccup had been doing and was completely repulsed at the idea of _asking_ him to befriend the creatures. Ludicrous was what it was.

That day and night he had spent expelling rumours and sending out search parties to find the dragon which brainwashed his son, but to no avail. The dragon was nowhere to be found. The stress of the day eventually led to Stoick collapsing on his couch and falling asleep.

Stoick turned and faced the drained man who had finally been able to pull himself under control.

"Stoick," he spoke, "We found something in the woods. You need to go and see it, right now."

His eyes narrowed and he grunted in dismay before scooping up his helmet and rushing out the door. His heavy footsteps pounded on the ground as he quickly shook himself from his sleepy state and broke into a run.

"Just off Raven Point, Stoick! There are a bunch of men there already!" Gobber shouted after the man, before turning his back and heading toward the Great Hall for some well deserved mead.

The huge man ran through black trees, only having the small amount of moonlight to judge where he was going. He puffed as he ran, but he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. If this was going to turn out to be clues to finding the dragon, he didn't want to miss a second of what was happening.

A slight ringing in his ears was all Stoick could hear as he batted branches out of his way. He thought back to the day before and what he had spat at Hiccup, those hurtful words. At that point he thought he'd meant it, due to the anger that overtook his mind in the situation. It was confronting and due to the entire village being present, he had acted as a Chief; not a father. Then again, he really hadn't acted like a father to Hiccup in a long time. After his late wife had been killed by one of the beasts, all he could see in Hiccup was Valka. It wasn't just in his looks either, his entire personality reflected hers. But Stoick had tried to ignore it. He treated Hiccup as he should have, took him around the island, played with him, fished with him; but they never seemed to spark a father-son bond. Every other father in the village had seemed to bond with their sons. Stoick merely watched as relationships flourish whilst his was being torn apart one day at a time. They were too different. When Hiccup eventually grew old enough to explore things on his own, he developed an opinion about everything, including their relationship. They had their fair share of fights, usually over something Hiccup had done or broken. Then one day, it stopped. Hiccup no longer reacted to the arguments they had. He sat quietly and listened, never making eye contact, and then he would leave as quickly as he could.

So, when Hiccup reacted in the arena as he did, it sparked something inside of Stoick, a simmering anger which had been building up for years. He let loose, he told his son to leave, and then he left. He didn't glance back, he couldn't. He didn't stop walking until he reached the door of his house. He had barely moved in two steps before the feeling of guilt hit him. Stoick didn't know how long he had spent standing there, knowing that he had just banished the only family he had left. Gobber letting himself in was what pulled him from his distraught state.

Orange light began to appear through the trees and Stoick began to hear booming voices over the ringing still prominent in his ears. There was nothing that Stoick could do now, his son was gone. His only plans for the future now would focus on being the strongest Chief he could possibly be. It was the only remaining aspect of his life that was important.

Upon reaching the men, Stoick noted a large cliff beyond them. Instead of listening to their stories of how they had gotten there, he pushed them aside to stare over the rocky walls and into a large cove. He had never seen this before, but then again he had never really felt the urge to explore the forest, he had duties to worry about. Slowly, Stoick examined the area. It only contained some trees and featured a lake, but other than that he saw nothing unusual. He frowned.

"What exactly was so important about this cove that Gobber had to run to get me for?" Stoick barked at the group of significantly smaller men before him, who all turned to glare at one man.

He stepped forward cautiously before holding out his hand. In it was a small charcoal pencil.

"Gobber said he recognised it as Hiccup's. Always had one of these on him, he said." The nameless viking placed the pencil in the Chief's hand before stepping back a respectable amount. Stoick stared at the pencil. He didn't recognise it as his son's; he had never noticed him carrying one around before.

"We found something else too. In the cove." one of the men spoke up, trying to bring Stoick's attention back to the situation.

His head snapped up, "The dragon?"

"Something is had left behind."

"Left behind?" his eyebrows furrowed as he followed his men down into the cove.

The group made their way over to a large tree situated opposite the entrance to the cove. As they walked Stoick noticed there were patches of grass which had been severely flattened and small holes dug into the hard ground. There were only certain creatures capable of making that sort of mark, it made Stoick shiver with rage. Storming his way over to where his men were standing, he began to take notice of what was in front of them. A gigantic circular burn mark was scorched into the ground in front of them. Leaning down, Stoick touched his hand to the ashy remains of dirt and grass. Surprisingly, it was still warm. The dark crease between his eyebrows deepened as he looked around for answers.

"Did you find anything else?" He barked harshly toward his men.

"Just one other thing Stoick, this." The viking was pointing to a nook found in the base of the tree.

Stoick bustled over to where he was standing before freezing. It was a straw basket containing a rotting fish. Hiccup had been feeding the devil. He crushed the fragile pencil between his giant fingers, sending it splintering to the ground below him.

"I want an inventory on the boats we have left in the harbour." Stoick demanded to the vikings before him.

Without another word he made his way out of the cove, leaving the vikings to stare after him quizzically. His arms strained as he pulled himself up onto the rounded boulders. Stoick knew that if all boats were accounted for in the harbour that he would renounce all faith for the hope of his son seeing sense. If everything was accounted for, it meant he'd taken off on the dragon. Before returning to the village, he spat back into the cove. Without a glance back he trekked into the woods, betrayal sketched into his skin.

* * *

><p>Hiccup turned and squinted into the piercing sun rising over the horizon behind him. Colours dashed into the black sky creating a mystical twirl of shades and causing the small puffs of clouds below them to become littered with golden sparkles. Not that Hiccup could enjoy this sight of course as he had been riding Toothless the entire night with not an ounce of sleep. Hours before he had felt the slackening of his eyelids and heard the dragon's faint warbling of complaint, but he pushed on, apologising as they went. He felt the need to travel as far away from Berk as he possibly could that night, using the wind to wipe away the memories and feelings of rejection he had experienced. It was all that he was able to think about. He was an outcast now. Even if he tried to return to the island he would be executed for trespassing. Not that he wanted to go back of course, there was no point. His father hated him and the village most likely believed he was conspiring with the dragons. Despite all of this however, it had been his home. Hiccup had never left the rock in his life. He'd spent his childhood watching boats come and go through the docks, sometimes supporting new faces and sometimes missing old ones. He had always wanted to travel somewhere else. The endless possibilities of the world were right there in front of him, all he had to do was get on a boat. But as always, his father told him no. There was always an excuse he would come up with to deter the boy from asking again; <em>you're too young<em>, _there isn't enough room on the boat_, _not enough food to eat_, _you are of much more use staying here instead_. So, eventually Hiccup gave up and stopped asking. Then when Hiccup had met Toothless and helped him fly again, he had finally found something to unleash his adventurous spirit into. When he was up in the clouds or scraping the water he was free of the confines of Berk. There was no direct plan on where they would be headed once they left the island, only the desperation to escape. Now that Hiccup had seen the sun he knew they were flying west… mostly. Navigation was never one of his strong points.

A loud yawn expelled from Hiccup's core, causing his eyes to well up with tears. He smacked his lips together as he finished before reaching down to stroke Toothless' head. He gave it a faint scratch before idly asking him, "You want to fly a bit lower?"

The tired dragon gave a soft warble before gliding down through the thin sheet of clouds, coating them with a spray of water vapour. It became darker below the clouds as they were covering the sun. Hiccup was starting to become less attentive by the minute as he looked for somewhere they could land. He could feel his mind dropping in and out of consciousness, sitting in limbo between being awake and asleep. After another few minutes of flying, Toothless bumped his back up into Hiccup to jolt him from his state.

"What is it bud?" he asked softly.

Hiccup moved his body to peer above Toothless' head. He could feel the heavy beating of the dragon's heart on his leg as he leaned forward. He squinted into the grey morning, trying to spot what Toothless had been alerting him to but he was unable to see a thing. Hiccup stared down at Toothless and traced his finger over one of the many circular bumps dotted over his intricate skin. The details found all over the dragon were so different to anything he had seen before and it was intriguing. Hiccup had to wonder why no one else in their long history had thought to try and deeply understand this unexplored species, since they were so fascinating. From what he knew, every viking had labelled the dragons as mindless beasts. He knew that they were intelligent creatures and were not attacking the village out of sheer need, yet no one else saw the situation through his eyes. He knew why the vikings looked toward the dragons with malice and revenge; the attacks had caused most to lose their homes, live stock and even family. That is why they would never understand, because they had been through too much to change their view. They would always see dragons as a dangerous machine to '_kill on sight_'. Hiccup shook his head as his brow furrowed in frustration. He didn't know why he had thought for a second that he would be able to convince anyone in the village that dragon's were not harmful. The entire situation in the arena had been a disaster. Hiccup had always seen things differently to those in the village, he didn't know why, but he did. Ever since he was a child people had turned from him due to his explosive imagination. No one ever wanted to hear about his new ideas due to their foolish fear of the unknown.

Ignoring the discomfort in his mind, he turned his attention back to the ocean while trying to keep his eyelids from snapping shut. That's when he noticed a dark green area which stuck out from the dark blue water and white froth.

"Is that an island?" he spoke softly.

Peering down he began to notice the trees, the grass and the _water_. His dry throat ached in anticipation. Toothless, after hearing Hiccup's faint comment, narrowed his eyes and stared down as best he could at the newly approaching land. He was very tired from flying the entire night, especially with the weight of two human's on his back. There was no way he was going to abandon this opportunity for rest. He let out a warning sound before he began to diving toward the small area at a high speed. Hiccup yelped as he grasped for the saddle, struggling to hold his place. The dragon did not relent his rapidly increasing speed as they approached.

"Toothless, I think it's time to slow down now." Hiccup yelled over the pounding wind against his ears.

Toothless shook his head and narrowed his eyes, looking for a clearing where he could settle. Hiccup's eyes began to water and his flushed cheeks filled with air in his attempts to call for Toothless to stop. Looking beyond the dragon he saw the trees below them were approaching too quickly for his liking. His eyes widened and he quickly grasped at the front of the saddle, pulling it backward with the minimal strength left in his body. He felt Astrid's fingers dig into his sides as a faint yell erupted from behind him.

"Come on, Toothless. Pull up!" Hiccup's eyes snapped shut to save him from watching their impact with the trees, but it never came.

His stomach lurched as he was flung forward from his position on Toothless. The dragon had finally decided to listen as he levelled out into a slow and calm glide above the tree line. Panting, Hiccup sat up and stared around, feeling his hands over his chest to make sure he was still in one piece. Placing one hand on his pumping heart, he flicked the dragon behind his left ear with a finger.

Toothless made a grumbling sound and shook his head to get rid of the tingling feeling from the impact. His eyelids drooped nonchalantly as he warbled at Hiccup.

"_I was about to reduce my speed_."

"Yeah, sure you were. That's why we were headed straight for that tree, right?" Hiccup mumbled.

He heard quiet grumblings coming from Astrid, who was settling back down behind him after that abrupt wake up. Something about a stupid dragon and aching back, Hiccup frowned.

After a quick recovery from the feeling of his stomach leaving his body, Hiccup moved Toothless to circle the lush island. They were specifically looking for an adequate area in which they could land and rest. A short while passed before Hiccup began to notice a glint below him through the foliage. A small grin made its way to his expression. They had found the water he had seen whilst flying toward the island.

"Toothless, look." He gestured past the dragon's face to the ground.

Toothless turned his head to the ground before letting out a pained bark. He was as desperate for water Hiccup was, if not more. The tired dragon had now slowed dramatically, relying on gliding rather than moving his exhausted wings.

"Just a little longer bud, we just need somewhere to land." Hiccup spoke in an apologetic tone to the dragon before placing his hands at the base of his neck, as if to give Toothless strength.

Then, only mere seconds after his words were spoken, a small clearing appeared. As they slowly came to hover over the long grassy area, Hiccup froze in thought.

This victory did not outweigh the daunting reality pinned to the forefront of his mind. It was going to take some time, adjusting to the new life he had brought upon himself. He would have to search for water, hunt for food and build his own shelter. Being the useless son of a Chief meant that everything was handed to him, either because it had to be or they didn't trust Hiccup to do it himself. He never complained of course, it wasn't like it was a bad thing to do nothing and gain a lot, but it made him feel weak, inadequate and… well, plain _useless_. Never in his life had he been able to prove anything to his superiors, mainly because they never listened. He sighed at the thought. Sure, even he could admit that there had been… mishappenings in the past which lead to no one trusting him with important duties. Since _sometimes_ his inventions didn't work at first and did cause damage to parts of the village. It was definitely not the worst thing to happen to Berk, but not according to the villagers. Like the time he was testing his bola launcher for the first time and it knocked off some shingles from a roof, he had been yelled at, pushed into a corner and then scolded by his father. The damage had been repaired within the day and yet, it caused such uproar. Every time Hiccup tried to gain a sliver of reputation he was met with scowls, corner-of-the-eye glares and the rumbling of laughter, painted with rejection. The feeling was equivalent to that of an arrow shot of target, taking pieces of his confidence with him each time it hit.

Hiccup was pulled from his thoughts as Toothless landed, covering them in thick grass. The tree line was to his right, standing at least 50 feet tall. To his left was the sound of flowing water. Hurriedly, he pried Astrid's arms from around his waist and stepped off the dragon, wincing at the numbness caught in his lower body. Hiccup stumbled through the sharp grass, pushing it aside to reach his destination. The grass began to thin and as soon as he saw the shining water within his reach, relief struck him like lightning. He fell to his knees and reached out a hand. The river was beautiful, filled with obsidian like pebbles and hundreds of small fish. The clear water carefully lapped at the banks and its steady flow moved in time with the world surrounding it.

His fingers slowly dipped into the cold comfort the water provided, a pleasing change from the harsh winds he had endured the night before. He cupped both shaking hands under the water before bringing it to his chapped lips with care. The water ran down his dry throat, coating it in what could only be described as appeasement. Hiccup filled his hands a second time before greedily gulping it down, excess dribbling down his chin. After he deemed himself satisfied, he steadily made his way back to Toothless. The dragon in question was huffing on the ground, sprawled out under the minimal shade the trees provided. Toothless crooned as he spotted the boy pushing his way back toward him.

"Hey bud," Hiccup spoke softly upon approaching him. "I'll get this all off of you so you can get some water."

The dragon let out a snort and huffed before turning his back slightly toward Hiccup. As delicately as he could, he began to remove the bag he had brought with them, some water pouches and Astrid's shoulder armour. None of these items were extremely heavy of course, but from the amount of time they had been flying, it would have caused Toothless a lot of discomfort.

Hiccup sighed through his nose, "I'm sorry for asking you to fly for so long. I just wanted us to get as far away as possible from Be- from… that island, for your safety and my peace of mind."

Pushing his head back toward Hiccup, Toothless gave a deep warble of forgiveness in response. The boy gave a half smile to him before reaching around to scratch the soft spot located on his neck. The dragon gave a pleased groan before relaxing into the ground and shutting his large, vibrant eyes. Hiccup slowed his hands pace as he turned his attention toward Astrid, who was now sitting upright on the Toothless' saddle. The look of displeasure on her face caused Hiccup to swallow the angst rising in his throat.

"That wasn't a very pleasurable wake up call." Her expression never wavered as she spoke, an important quality for a viking.

"Well, at least we didn't crash. I guess that's one thing to rejoice about." He gave her a half-hearted smile before moving to help her off the dragons back.

Astrid glared down at his outstretched arms before jumping off the saddle herself and landing on the ground in one swift motion. Hiccup's arms dropped to his sides as his eyes drooped.

"I was just trying to help." he stated with a flat tone.

"I don't need help." she stated in response.

Astrid turned away from the boy and dragon and moved her fringe behind her ear. It was beginning to get too long for her liking. She'd first noticed the problem back on Berk during dragon training when a large chunk of hair had blocked her view of a Deadly Nadder. Luckily she'd flicked it to the side in time; otherwise she would have been caught at the end of multiple spines.

A ray of sunshine began to pierce through the dissipating clouds, showering them in a heated light, "So where are we anyway." Astrid asked, turning back to Hiccup who was watching Toothless move over to the river.

"Well," Hiccup turned back to her, a sheepish grin drawn across his face. "I think were west of Berk. But I don't know for certain. We flew in the general direction of west, but, whilst it was night we really could have been headed anywhere." he rubbed the back of his head with his hand before a gigantic yawn came from him.

Astrid crossed her arms tightly across her chest, "Are you tired?" she asked.

"Yeah, well," Hiccup shook his head. "I couldn't sleep last night. I had to help Toothless fly because of his tail. If we had hit a bad patch of wind we may have found ourselves waking up in the ocean.

Hiccup gave a slight chuckle which was cut off by another yawn. Astrid looked the boy up and down, he looked dishevelled. She knew the day before had taken its toll on Hiccup both physically and mentally. "Why don't you rest? While you do I can go and hunt for food."

Hiccup's concerned eyes snapped up to meet Astrid's, "You can't go hunting. Your arm is hurt."

Astrid glared the boy down until he turned away, almost as if in self defence.

"I've had worse injuries than this. I can take care of myself, Hiccup."

"I'm just concerned for you." Hiccup mumbled.

"Well, you don't have to be." Astrid scoffed. As if she needed someone to take care of her, she was self-reliant and independent.

Not meaning to interrupt, Toothless warbled as he approached the two teens. After groggily stomping from the grass, he gave Hiccup a delicate nudge and collapsed back onto the bed of grass which he had laid on minutes before. Hiccup glanced at Astrid before lying down next to his friend and closing his eyes, a large sigh escaping his lips as he relaxed. Astrid stood there for a moment, starting at the two unlikely friends. It was strange, she thought, how everything had changed so dramatically in the past day. She was no longer a part of Berk. The gravity of the situation they were in began creeping back into her mind, but she ignored it. There was nothing she could do now except try to survive. Unfortunately for her, the only companions she had now consisted of a clumsy boy and his pet dragon.

Sighing, Astrid made her way over to the river. After taking a number of large gulps, she stood and turned toward the extravagant forest. There had to be some sort of animal they could eat in there; hopefully something she was going to be able to carry back without hurting her shoulder more. She had to admit, it really did hurt, but she would never let anyone try to tell her she was unable to do something when she wanted to.

The long grass quickly disappeared as she moved into the forest, being replaced by a thick layer of leaves and sticks. The air became thicker the further she walked in due to the density of the foliage above her but she didn't mind. Having to deal with smoke her entire life she had gotten use to the feeling of being unable to breathe. It wasn't a problem, just a nuisance. There were a lot of things on Berk someone would have to '_get use to_' if they started living there, but because she had grown up surrounded by the rules and culture of the island, she merely adapted her personality to fit that style of life. From a very young age she decided she wanted to become the best warrior in the village. She couldn't remember why this was what she wanted, only that it needed to happen. So, when the dragons would come and she was forced to stay with the village Elder, she would study the way the best warriors fought the dragons. She took note of the weapons they used and stared in awe each time they used a new technique to take down a dragon. It excited her to watch them fight. Once she'd received her first axe as a present, she began to train with it. During the early stages, she would practice lifting it from the ground to her shoulder to gain some muscle. Once she could pick it up without strain, she began to use it. She performed everything from chopping into trees to throwing it as far as she could, anything to try and build up her skills with the weapon. Eventually she outgrew the axe and required a new one, and that's where Hiccup came in. He had been allocated as Gobber's apprentice and for his first big assignment; it was to make Astrid a new axe. She had not reacted well to that decision. Astrid knew he was going to mess it up somehow as he did with everything else he laid is hand on. She made sure to be there whenever he was working on it, critiquing what he was doing as Gobber tried to help. Although she was told it would take a few days, it ended up taking quite a few weeks. Eventually Astrid stopped going to watch him make her axe as she couldn't stand to be around him longer than she had to be. No one really liked Hiccup, they merely put up with him. Then one night, when she was walking through the village, she spotted Hiccup in the forge. He was rushing around, reaching for all sorts of tools and letting out curses over and over. The next day, her axe was delivered to her home. Upon opening the package, a note dropped to the ground. She had picked it up curiously and read under her breath:

_I'm sorry it's not perfect, I tried my best._

After that day Astrid decided she would no longer participate in her friends teasing of the boy, she wouldn't laugh when he messed up and she wouldn't call him useless. He was just a boy trying to help out as best he could. It was the reason why she ignored the large dent in the side of her axe.

Astrid didn't know how long she had been walking for but there were no signs on animals. Cursing under her breath she tried to remember what she had learnt about plants from her mother. Some were fine to eat, others you had to boil first but most were completely poisonous and would cause dead within an hour of consuming it. She'd never liked to listen to her mother because the words that came out of her mouth were either coated in disappointment or things she didn't want to hear. She didn't want to hear her talk about how her father needed to be stronger than he was. She didn't want to hear her gossip about the loss of someone's child during a dragon raid. And, she most definitely did not want to hear about her decisions on who Astrid was to be married off to. Obviously their discussion about plants was listed under something she did not want to hear about, because she could barely remember a thing.

"This is hopeless." Astrid mumbled to herself before kicking a large rock into a bush a few metres from where she was situated.

As she turned back toward the direction of the river, she heard a large amount of squawking coming from the bush behind her. Confused, she turned back, only for her body to become swarmed in a group of green Terrible Terrors. She yelped as their claws dug into her skin and their jaws latched onto clothing. She used her good arm to try hitting them away which only lead them to squawk and scratch harder. Eventually after some struggle they left one by one. Astrid shook the last off of her arm and watched them fly off into the forest before collapsing against a nearby tree. Blood was dripping from the scratches she had obtained and purple welts were forming where they had bitten but it was nothing serious. Luckily for her they had attacked the good side of her torso, so her shoulder was left unscathed.

Slowly she stood up from the tree and turned around to face the direction of where she thought the river may be. Since the small dragons had caused her to spin around she'd lost her place and sense of direction. The small amount of light making its way through the trees wasn't going to help since it wasn't harsh enough to cast a shadow and she couldn't retrace her steps since all the leaves and sticks looked exactly the same. The worst part was, she didn't know how long she had been walking around for. It could have been minutes or hours. Frustrated with herself, she turned in a circle looking for something similar that she had seen on her way there. The surrounding area was mainly flat with a few dips in the ground here and there. She stared for a moment at a mound in the distance before shaking her head and placing her hands on her hips; nothing was sticking out to her.

"Well, my best bet is to just keep walking. I mean, what could really go wrong, it's not like this forest goes on forever. And now I'm talking to myself." Astrid let out a sarcastic laugh before heading in the direction of the large mound.

As she began to move toward the bulge protruding from the ground, she began to wonder how it got there. None of the dirt surrounding it looked dipped and there didn't seem to be any insects around which could have made the anomaly. It was curious in its design, rounded at the top and curved off at the bottom, almost as if it was the coating for a giant egg. Astrid stopped in her tracks and her stomach swooped slightly as she began to hear a chirping noise coming from somewhere around her. It sounded like a stressed call from a baby bird wanting its food, but above her there were not birds or nests in sight. In fact, there were no branches above her at all. Looking around the area surrounding the mound she took notice that all of the trees had lost their branches. The area made a full circle around the mound, as if something had been circling it. To eat? Or protect. She didn't know. Gulping down the anxiety in her drying throat, she circled the mound in cautious curiosity. There was nothing unstable about how it looked but it was like nothing she had ever seen before. Slowly she approached it and placed both hands on its side. The dirt felt warm. Curiosity as the forefront of her mind, she began to dig. As first only small amounts of dry dirt would fall off, coating her leggings in a brown sheet, but then the dirt became harder. Each piece she pulled out from the large mound was thick, comparable to the weight of a large rock. Astrid didn't know why but she had a feeling that she had to dig into this dirt and find what was inside. There was no specific reasoning to why she needed to do this, but her gut was telling her to keep going. Eventually once most of the dirt was cleared, Astrid began to feel a strange texture in the dirt. Thinking it was some sort of root, she began to pull, only to realise seconds later that the whole thing was going to come with it. She dropped it in a flash. Squinting, she leaned into the hole to feel the texture of the unknown object. Trailing her fingers along it she began to realise exactly what the texture felt like, bark. The same bark, in fact, that existed on the trees in the forest. After digging away at more dirt she could see that underneath the exterior was a range of twigs, leaves and branches, presumably from the surrounding trees. The chirping noise became increasingly louder as she pulled through the thick rotting branches. For all she knew it may have just been some small birds which had gotten stuck in there by accident. She smiled to herself; she was doing a good favour to them. Soon Astrid spotted a clearing and was beginning to see what was in the strange mound. Excitedly, she began removing more branches and throwing them behind herself when suddenly she stopped.

A hot puff of air tickled at the back of her neck, causing Astrid to freeze, petrified. The chirping turned to squeaking and the faint sunlight through the trees was blocked out by a large shadow. That is when Astrid realised; she had stumbled into a dragon's nest.

Panic started to sink in and so she did the only thing she could think of to do, _get out_. Astrid quickly performed a tuck and roll and hid behind the base of a large tree just in time before a shower of deep blue and yellow spines splintered the trees surrounding her. Heavily panting, she reached behind her back for comfort only to find air in place of her most prized possession, her axe. She cursed under her breath and pushed herself further into the base of the tree. Hiccup had been the one who packed for them yet he still couldn't remember to pack the one thing she needed most? She would yell at him when she returned, but for now there were bigger problems. Slowly, she peaked around the tree base to see if the dragon was still by the mound. To her dismay, it was nowhere to be seen. Pressure built in her lungs from holding her breath too long. She couldn't see the Nadder, which meant it could definitely see her. It was somewhere, hunting her, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Astrid pressed her forefingers to her temple and rubbed, trying to think in the difficult and dangerous situation. Gobber had said something useful about Nadders in their training at some point. If she could just remember what it was. It seemed like a lifetime away now even though it had only been mere weeks. How dramatically things could change in a day, she thought to herself. Luckily just at that moment, the quote she needed popped into her head.

Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter.

That was exactly what Astrid was planning on doing. Sparing one last glance back at the destroyed nest, she began to run, treading as lightly as she could on the littered ground.

* * *

><p>Hiccup groggily woke up from his short sleep, the blazing sun stinging his eyes. It was the thing that had woken him up in the first place. He groaned as he sat up, pressing on his neck. It hurt due to the uncomfortable angle he had slept, in other words, on Toothless's stomach. The dragon in question however was sleeping peacefully, seemingly unfazed by the harsh beaming rays. Hiccup let a smile crack on his face. The unholy offspring of lightning and death was feet away from him, basking in the heated light of a midday sun.<p>

Looking around, Hiccup noticed Astrid hadn't returned. His gaze shifted from the tree line to the water. It was probably a good idea that he wash his clothes, especially the ones he was wearing. The smell screamed Berk, but this was an unwanted realisation. Slowly he made his way over to the bag lying on the floor away from Toothless. He would wash the clothes he had on before changing into the spare he'd brought. They would dry quickly thanks to the hot sun. Hiccup began rummaging through his bag, moving pencils and clothing before his hand brushed an unfamiliar book. Slowly he pulled it out from the tangled pile of clothes and his jaw dropped. It was Astrid's journal. He must have accidentally taken it by mistake in his rush to leave the Hofferson household, Gasping, he quickly used his spare hand to cover his mouth and push his jaw back into place. Astrid was going to kill him.

He stuffed the book far down into his bag so that she would not see it if she happened to go through his bag. He started doing the latch up just in time too as Astrid suddenly appeared, running through the tree line. Confused, Hiccup took in her state. She was red in the face, panting and had a the sheer look of terror glazing her eyes. Besides all that, she was also scratched from head to toe with huge purple welts covering her body.

"Astrid, what happened to yo-" Hiccup was cut off as Astrid latched onto his hand an pulled him toward Toothless.

A crash was heard from somewhere behind Hiccup and he dared to glance around. He saw what he was dreading, a large wild Deadly Nadder. Its eyes were turned to slits and its body crouched low, ready to attack. Luckily for them its spines hadn't fully regrown yet, but it was only a matter of time. The dragon roared and began to charge at the pair who were hurriedly jumping onto Toothless who was now very alert and defensive. The first sparks of fire started to shoot from its mouth. Toothless roared back at the angry dragon before shooting a plasma blast at its feet, causing it to stumble and become disoriented.

"Go Toothless, quickly!" shouted Hiccup.

The three took off into the air not a second later, climbing at incredible speeds. The wind was harsh and made it hard to see, but Astrid was determine to make sure that dragon would not follow them. Looking downward she saw the Nadder, staring directly up at them, yet it made no move to follow. As the dragon was reduced to the size of an ant, she watched it turn slowly and make its way back into the forest, back to the nest she destroyed. They flew for a while before Hiccup decided to say anything.

"I thought you were looking for food, not a Nadder." he said slowly.

Astrid sighed, "I came across a mound and I didn't know what it was. I was interested."

"Interested? Astrid, you could have been killed by that thing." Hiccups voice broke. He told her not to go, she didn't listen.

"I made it back. I told you, I can take care of myself." she spat.

"But you don't know how to take control of dragons without attacking them, remember? That's all you've learnt."

"If someone had brought my axe then it wouldn't be a problem."

Silence sat between the two as the glided slowly through the air. Hiccup didn't bring Astrid's axe purposely. He didn't want her to be around Toothless with the weapon and he knew that if she had it, she would be less likely to willingly learn about training wild dragons. He sighed.

"Astrid, I want to teach you how I trained Toothless so that you can do the same with other dragons. It's a precaution to make sure you stay safe if I wasn't there and a wild dragon was to get out of hand" he spoke slowly but her frown deepened as he went.

"Hiccup, if I had my axe, it wouldn't be a problem." she mumbled stubbornly.

"Violence is a problem. I don't want you to hurt dragons."

More silence.

Astrid was conflicted. She had learnt to be a warrior, to fight dragons. Hiccup was asking her to be the complete opposite. She didn't know if she was going to be able to do it, her hatred for the creatures ran deeper than he knew.

She sighed, "I'll try, for you. But I'm not making any promises."

A light punch was given to the back of Hiccup's arm. He rubbed it slowly, "For you to try is all I'm asking."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** OH MY GOD FINALLY.  
>I am so sorry this took so long (over a month) to get out. Writers block why.<br>My one to two week deadline may be... overestimating my ability.  
>Next chapter I will try for one week (might be pushing that deadline woops).<br>If you are still reading though you are awesome!

_RN_


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